Pols in charge at 60 Park Place, but they'd rather talk sports

The new maitre d' at 60 Park Place--the latest incarnation of an upscale but often luckless Newark eatery once known as Arthur's and The Savoy Grill--has a familiar face. So, when he hands you a menu and takes you to your seat, just say:

"Thanks, governor."

But no tips. Giving cash to Richard Codey, the state Senate president and once (and maybe future) governor, just wouldn't look right.

"I love working as host," says Codey. "I love people and I love sports, so it's perfect for me."

Codey owns an insurance business but recently invested as part owner of 60 Park Place. With two familiar names. Sean McGovern--as in McGovern's Tavern in Newark. And Peter Torok, a pizzeria owner from Verona and son of John Torok, a Trenton lobbyist who represents a slew of unions, trade groups, and professional associations.

"I didn't put in a lot of money," Codey insists. "We don't own the building. Just the business."

McGovern, who also owns Scully's on Clinton Street, says he and Codey "have been talking about a joint adventure for a long time and this came up as an opportunity--so we went for it."

"Sean's a good guy, and he and Pete have a lot of experience in the business," says Codey.

Like Codey, McGovern's also a politician, a Roseland councilman. But his main job is lawyering--he's a criminal defense attorney in Newark. "These are sidelines," says McGovern of Scully's, McGovern's and, now, 60 Park Place, which opened to no fanfare little more than a month ago.

Sean is grandson of Frank McGovern, the original owner of the Irish pub on New Street, and nephew of Bill Scully, long-time owner--and still sometime crooning bartender--of McGovern's.

And, by the spring, he says, he'll open the City Chop House on Commerce Street, a white tablecloth restaurant the name of which evokes the life and death of Depression-era mobster Dutch Schultz (nee Arthur Flegenheimer), gunned down in 1935 at the Palace Chop House, a few doors down from 60 Park Place. That building was just torn down for a parking lot.

Scully's, he explains, is a "modern Irish pub," while McGovern's is a "traditional Irish pub." All four places are within walking distance of each other downtown.

When his new place, the 60 Park Place, was the Savoy Grill, under different owners, it was upscale, all lace and linen and plush banquettes--and pricey entrees.

"There just wasn't a market for what the Savoy was offering, but we think there will be a market for a sports-oriented place with a less expensive menu," says McGovern.

The menu now is almost identical to that of Scully's, a place he opened to catch the crowds going to the new Prudential Center. That's pretty much the same crowd he's attracting at 60 Park Place.

Also gone from the Savoy is a huge mural painted in honor of Newark and New Jersey celebrities--including Frank Sinatra, Bruce Springsteen and Count Basie--as well as other iconic figures who might have passed through Newark (Marilyn Monroe and John Kennedy, for example).

"The mural is safe and in storage," says McGovern. "We're donating it to the city of Newark."

Codey says he'd be willing to talk politics at his new place, but his real interest is sports, especially Seton Hall basketball--the team plays at the Prudential Center. He's an ardent fan and booster of controversial coach Bobby Gonzalez.

The state senator from West Orange says expects Gonzalez will appear at the place before and after Seton Hall games--"just to talk with fans." Codey already has had a panel of local sportswriters appear.

Don't offer to buy Codey a drink. He's a lifetime teetotaler. "I've never touched the stuff," he says. "No one in my family did, either."

McGovern predicts the new place--which won't have its ceremonial grand opening until next week-- will do well, despite a less than encouraging history at the site.